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A country that never doubts itself dreams unabashedly. The U.S. lost a match, but it had already won

United States fans enjoy the atmosphere at the U.S.-Turkey match at Los Angeles Stadium. Winning is contagious Fran Santiago / Getty Images

By Jerry BrewerJune 26, 2026 Updated 5:12 pm EDT

The Athletic has live coverage of Uruguay vs Spain and Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — In the upper concourse of a stadium with the vibe of a magnificent indoor-outdoor club, the Barra 76 supporters’ group started the party Thursday night. They banged drums and led chants. They danced in a circle. When a curious, phone camera-wielding crowd gathered around them, they began jumping, so energetic and rhythmic it was contagious. After a while, the concrete floor wanted to boogie, too.

It was 90 minutes before an oddly inconsequential World Cup game. A dead rubber match, the wonks call it. The United States, already the winner of Group D, needed just two games to finish first and advance to the round of 32. Turkey, sentenced to last place, needed to catch a flight home. So this would be a meaningless result.

Nonetheless, you could feel how much it mattered.

Spectacle doesn’t often garnish a perfunctory occasion. But this is the World Cup, and this is America, at full volume, functioning as the host and the entertainment.

The evening felt like a send-off, a photo opp more than a tension fest, a match full of uneven and uninspiring play as most of the top American players rested. There was victory embedded in the frustration of a 3-2 loss in the final seconds of stoppage time, because nothing of lasting significance occurred. The U.S. moves forward. And so does the bandwagon.

It was inevitable that this team, as a co-host during the summer of the nation’s 250th birthday, would inspire a fervor with any positive result. But the intensity of this passion defies even the circumstances.

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Two weeks ago, there was still concern about the country’s soccer ambivalence and the team’s meager history. One pulsating, tournament-opening 4-1 victory later, the dreaming commenced. After a second triumph, the emotional investment was undeniable. The American sports scene is overcrowded and full of divided interests until it isn’t. The noise is hard to break through, but the U.S. men’s national team has pierced it.

For a fleeting time, the moment is theirs. Something new and intoxicating or highly debatable is coming soon. But these Americans are a success story, for now. And as much as we love a winner, we live to anticipate sports magic.

“I feel like what’s happening here is a seminal moment,” said Amanda Ryan, a fan from Carlsbad, N.M., who has attended the first three U.S. matches. “I feel like it’s a shift in the movement. It’s showing America as a powerhouse option. It’s a glimpse, but it’s an important one.”

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Ryan has tattoos of soccer clubs on both arms. The U.S. logo is noticeable from 10 feet away. It can be a lonely life, rooting for this team. So she welcomes the new bandwagon passengers.

“You know, we all started somewhere,” she said, laughing. “Soccer, it’s a passion that takes time to build. If you’re interested, the rest of us will pull you along with us.”

It’s most interesting to observe not just the enthusiasm, but the audacity that accompanies it. This is a fan base with no meaningful history of success in men’s soccer. It has advanced as far as the World Cup semifinal just once, and that was 96 years ago, during the first tournament, when only 13 countries participated. It cannot boast a true legendary generation. The national team doesn’t possess any titles in any of the world’s most sacred global competitions. Yet in this moment, the fandom exudes confidence.

Maybe the narrow loss to Turkey can mute a little of that, but not much.

United States players huddle after their 3-2 loss to Turkey in the final seconds Thursday night in Los Angeles. They’ll play Bosnia and Herzegovina next in a Round of 32 game (Fran Santiago / Getty Images)

Vince McLeod came to Los Angeles Stadium dressed as a turkey. He wore American flag overalls over it. And he carried an inflatable turkey leg.

“You hear the chants of people,” McLeod said. “You hear how things are growing. This is just taking it to the next level. So we’re showing that we’re relevant in the soccer world. We’re not typically relevant, but this start has surpassed my expectations night and day. If you would have told me we’d be competing for three wins in a group stage, it would have blown me away, but where we’re at now is incredible. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, to have a dead rubber match, to feel like we’re playing from ahead.”

McLeod, who is from Southern California, fell in love with soccer during college in England. He has viewed American bravado from multiple angles. He proudly wears the costume of a country that seldom thinks about its limitations. And he understands how abnormal the mentality is.

To more seasoned soccer nations, the U.S. reaction to victories over Paraguay and Australia can look like either charming naivete or jaw-dropping ignorance. England is credited with inventing modern soccer, and over 60 years of chasing another World Cup crown, the sport has humbled, and sometimes humiliated, the originators.

In every tournament, Argentina and Brazil try to satisfy their insatiable traditions. Several of the world’s most prominent soccer programs represent old countries shaped by centuries of occupation and war and defeat, and the weight of that bleeds into their fandom. Around the globe, many nations know how easily things — from the trivial to the essential — can go bad.

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America, still teething at 250, doesn’t have as much trauma. It has experienced losses, certainly, but it has processed almost none of them as defining. The scar tissue isn’t the same. In soccer, the lack of success is also freeing. There is no enduring heartbreak, just shrugs about something that we have yet to dominate. America’s default setting is not caution. It is not lowering expectations to guard against disappointment. It is a belief that conquering the improbable is only a matter of will.

That’s why these soccer fans, old and new, can watch their team win two group-stage games and skip all the way to imagining a deep World Cup run.